4148. 'Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid; for I said, Perhaps you will take your daughters from me by force' means the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with the free consent of that good, in that harm would have been done to it so far as affections for truth were concerned. This is clear from what has gone before where separation with the free consent on the part of the good meant by 'Laban' was the subject, and to which an answer is recorded here. All the words used here - each one - include heavenly arcana within them in the internal sense, but these cannot be disclosed for the reason discussed just above in 4136. Yet they mean, it is evident, the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with the free consent of that good. And the consideration that the affections for truth would in that case be harmed is meant by 'Perhaps you will take your daughters from me by force', for 'daughters', who in this case are Rachel and Leah, means affections for truth, as shown many times already. The implications of all this are shown more clearly by what follows next.
